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Obama: No Surrender on Obamacare; Krokodil: Flesh Killing Drug Used in U.S.; How We Got the 3-Finger Salute; Ex-NFL Player Commits Suicide; News Anchor's Brush with Death

Aired September 26, 2013 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin. President Obama today saying there's no surrender on Obamacare. Look at the calendar, five days to go before new health care exchanges are set to open. President Obama laid it on thick, campaign-style speech touting his signature health care law. And the president got personal, slamming Republicans trying to bring it down. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should go broke just because they get sick. The affordable care act is here to stay. So the first thing you need to know is this. If you already have health care, you don't have to do anything. In fact, for the past few years since I signed the affordable care act, a lot of you have been enjoying new benefits and protections that you didn't have before, even if you didn't know they were coming from Obamacare.

Because the affordable care act, more than 100 million Americans have gotten free preventive care like mammograms and contraceptive care with no co-pays. Because of the affordable care act, just this year, 8.5 million families actually got an average of $100 back from their insurance companies because the insurance company spent too much on things like overhead and not enough on actual Medicare -- medical care.

Some of the same Republicans who warned three years ago that this law would be Armageddon, that's what they said, Armageddon. Now, they're threatening steps that actually would badly hurt our entire economy. Not because of the affordable care act but because of what they're threatening to do. Some have threatened a government shutdown if they can't shut down this law.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So the president today speaking there in all of this happening as President Obama's approval ratings are slumping. So this new CNN poll found 45 percent of Americans surveyed approve of how the president is handling his job. You can see back in May, that number was at 49 percent.

I want to bring in our chief political correspondent and host of "STATE OF THE UNION," Candy Crowley. Candy, you were watching on these Republicans, right? I mean, they are waging war on Obamacare, depending on what you're talking about, wanting to defund it or put it off a year. You think the president made inroads today?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the inroads the president wants to make now is to convince the American people to take a look at this because what he most needs when he looks at Congress, I think he thinks he's pretty sure that they're going to hand him something that does not defund Obamacare. In any case, he would certainly veto whatever it is, and there aren't the votes to do that.

So I think they have calculated that while the president is certainly in this fight, in the end, defunding Obamacare is a non-starter. Delaying it for a year, we'll see. We've already seen at least one Democrat say I could see delaying it for a year when they get to the debt ceiling. But still, it's a pretty solid block of Democrats who don't want to mess with Obamacare and a sizable number of Republicans who don't want to shut the government down.

So I think the White House looks at this and says, I think we're going to get this. Obamacare is going to go as planned. October 1st, the sign-up is going to begin. I think that speech is a pep rally to go look at it. Get online, see what you can do because what they most need is for people to engage in Obamacare, particularly young and healthy Americans.

So I think this is the beginning of the selling of Obamacare, and it has the added pressure of kind of, you know, putting Congress, you know, dead center and saying they're stepping in the way of this.

BALDWIN: So speaking of Republicans, this is House Speaker John Boehner talking today.

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REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: The American people don't want the president's health care bill, and they don't want the government to shutdown. Republicans are listening. We passed a bill last week that would do just what the American people have asked. It's time for the Senate to listen and pass the bill that we sent over there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So what are the risks, Candy, for these Republicans? I realize there are fault lines between the members of the Republican Party. What do they risk by trying to eliminate or put off Obamacare?

CROWLEY: Well, what a number of Republicans believe is that nationally, some of them said this will destroy the Republican Party if we shut down the government. Not necessarily get rid of Obamacare, but if we shut down the government, if we refuse to raise the debt ceiling. They think that will be very hard on the Republican Party's national image. But on the House side in particular, you have Republicans that are in districts that really say fine, shut down the government, if that's what it takes. So the risks to the -- certainly to the imagery of the Republican Party, a lot of Republicans think is pretty high when it comes to shutting down the government. They do think, by the way, even the Republicans who say we're not going to shut down the government, let's just get it done, say we would like to get rid of Obamacare.

BALDWIN: They agree on that.

CROWLEY: This is the big old wish list. We would love to get rid of it, but this isn't the way to do it. I think over the next year or two years or five years or 10 years, you'll see adjustments, maybe you'll see big adjustments to this law. Again, they're going to try to delay it for a year. We'll see how that pans out. It doesn't look likely given the numbers in the Senate.

So I think it's just the beginning of it, but I think most of the folks on Capitol Hill can count noses pretty easily. And understand the politics of shutting down the government and don't particularly like what they see when it comes to the Republicans.

BALDWIN: OK, Candy Crowley, thank you. We're going to be talking to the wish list attached to the debt ceiling vote. That's a whole other issue in the show. I promise you.

And we do want to hear about your health care stories and how you feel about this new health care law. Send us an I-Report. It's really easy, just go to cnnireport.com and tell us your story.

OK, here we go. This next story might make you a little squeamish. It includes graphic pictures so if you don't like the sound of that, turn away now. OK, I'm talking about this drug. It's called Krokodil, it's a deadly street drug. First surfaced in Russia, gives a high, they say, similar to that of heroin. But unlike heroin, it also eats your flesh from the inside out.

And despite what you're looking at, these horrifying side effects, it has made its way across the ocean from Russia with two cases popping up here in the U.S. just this past week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FRANK LOVECCHIO, BANNER POISON CONTROL CLINIC: We've had two cases this past week that have occurred in Arizona. And as far as I know, this is the first cases in the United States that are reported. So we're extremely frightened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Amy La Porte here to explain. You have been looking at some pretty squeamish videos today for yourself.

AMY LA PORTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually showing you the edited version, toned down. BALDWIN: Not as graphic as you looked add, which I have avoided. Tell me, we're reporting on two cases. You discovered there have been more?

LA PORTE: There have been. This is so new that even the doctors don't know. Poison control centers, they haven't even had time to collaborate the information. We got the attention of two cases in Arizona. We have now found out there's a total of five this year, 2013, none last year. So for Russia, though, better part of a decade, people have been showing up with the tell-tale symptoms of Krokodil, which is basely green, scaly skin. It's so damaging that people were showing up in emergency rooms without limbs, with their bones exposed.

BALDWIN: What?

LA PORTE: It's so damaging actually that once the users start, their life span, two to three years. So why would anyone use this drug, right? As you mentioned, it's a high like heroin, but it's a lot cheaper and easier to make.

BALDWIN: What's in it for it to bring people to the hospitals missing limbs?

LA PORTE: Right. It's actually decamorphine. It has coating as the primary source of material. Of course, in Russia, they don't have the regulations we do. We've also have hydrochloric acid. You can get this from a pharmacy. Red phosphorus, and they actually from the tip of a match, and then the more dangerous things, anything from alcohol, gasoline, paint stripper, all of these non-pure.

So when you're talking drugs, the thing that's actually going to affect you most, that's going to lead to those long-term damages is the impurities that you don't see in things like morphine and heroin. That's what's actually leading to the necrosis. I spoke to a doctor who said this is really just the tip of the iceberg here.

BALDWIN: Let's hope there are not more cases than what we're reporting. Amy La Porte, thank you very much. It's tragic to think of the lengths some people go.

Now Bill Gates says it was all a mistake and something most of us type on our keyboards each and every day. Why Bill Gates is apologizing for control-alt-delete.

And former CNN anchor, Leon Harris opens up about his brush with death. You'll hear about the health scare that gave him quite the wake call.

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BALDWIN: You know those three keys, control-alt-delete, right, they help you. You have to hit them all at once to log in or if ever there's nothing working, you hit control-alt-delete. Do you ever wonder why it takes all three keys? Well, someone finally asked Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN: We could have had a single button that the guy who did the idea on the keyboard designed didn't want to give us our single button and so we programmed a level. It was a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A mistake, he says. Coming up, a tragic story from the NFL community, a former pro player, all of 29 years young, is dead by his own hand. We will talk live to Paul Oliver's former high school football coach here in studio next.

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BALDWIN: Today is not an easy day for the family and friends of former teammates of ex-san Diego Charger, Paul Oliver. Police say Oliver died Tuesday night in Marietta, Georgia from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 29 years of age and just the latest in a series of former pro football players who have taken their lives.

Oliver played at the University of Georgia and then for the Chargers, all the way from 2007 to 2011. His former high school football coach says he was the best player who ever played at that high school. And his former coach joins me now, and I'm sorry for the loss of a man you say you remember like it was yesterday. He was the best of the best. What was he like on and off the field?

BRUCE COBLEIGH, OLIVER'S HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH: This is a real tough situation for everybody because this isn't Paul. I mean, this is surprising, shocking. He was really outgoing. He -- he was a great teammate. When you read in the paper, even the Chargers that he played with, the first thing they say was how much they liked him. He was really well liked, a leader, hard, hard worker, and talented beyond belief.

BALDWIN: How many years ago was that that he played with you?

COBLEIGH: He played at Harrison from 1999 to 2003 and his brothers all played. His whole family played for me. They were a football family.

BALDWIN: Off the field, what kind of young man was he?

COBLEIGH: Just like I said, they were real close-knit. His sophomore year, we played for the state championship and he played with a group of kids that were talented, too. There were five division I players off his senior class. And they were really tight. They were all upset and shocked by it and really close-knit, real good friends. He was a good friend, good teammate, good leader. This is -- this is uncharacteristic. I would never have thought this.

BALDWIN: I see your emotion. How is this for you?

COBLEIGH: It's difficult because, you know, as a high school football coach, they're with you like 24/7 especially here in Georgia, big school football there, and they work out all year. You're with them all year long. I mean, Paul was the kind of kid that, you know, one story was, like, when he was -- we lift weights at 6:30 in the morning. That's when we did it.

And it takes a big commitment to get there. He and a bunch of his teammates started doing that in the sixth grade. So he was up there with the varsity kids. They were that committed. When you're with those kids so long and put so much into it, it's difficult.

BALDWIN: I read in the "San Diego Tribune" today, he leaves behind a wife. He leaves behind two kids. According to this newspaper article I read, it said they witnessed the incident. The big question is the why. I don't think anyone really has the answer yet, but have you been in touch with him through the years at all?

COBLEIGH: I haven't heard much from him since he went into the NFL, was in a lot of touch when he was in college, but once you get into the NFL scene, we haven't heard much from him, although, all the players called yesterday, a lot of them, a lot of them. And you know, they talked to him, and now and then, but they were just as surprised.

They said he was excited about his family and bringing up his two kids, John Abbadi, who was like his best friend. He also had an NFL tryout, good player himself. We talked to him this morning. John, did you have any idea? He said, no idea, uncharacteristic.

BALDWIN: Coach, when you hear about, we have been reporting, I think, of Junior Seau and other pro players who have taken their own lives. The question I have, I guess, since you're dealing and have been dealing with young people, are there current players or parents who come to you with concerns about life, you know, if they go pro and beyond?

COBLEIGH: Well, with a pro aspect, you don't have many of them. So it's a real small percentage that ever get that opportunity, but from what I understand, and you know, I know a lot of pro coaches, it's a tough adjustment from being in that big limelight, you know, a lot of money. And then it's gone, like they call you in and it's gone the next day. That's got to be difficult, but I don't know.

BALDWIN: Coach Bruce Cobleigh, Harrison High School, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We're back after this.

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BALDWIN: A news anchor describes his terrifying brush with death and if you are a long time CNN viewer, his face will definitely look very familiar to you. Leon Harris spent 20 years here at CNN, and he talked to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about this scary health battle.

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LEON HARRIS, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Leon Harris.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leon Harris began his television career 30 years ago at CNN, not as an anchor, but as an intern and a cameraman who rose to the number two spot in the Network Satellite Department before his talents in front of the camera were discovered a decade later and he began anchoring for CNN. He was on set for the network's coverage of many big news stories including the Oklahoma City bombings and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

HARRIS: You're looking at this picture. It's the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

GUPTA: In 2003, he moved on to local television as lead anchor for WJLA in Washington, D.C. all the time, he was the picture of health. But recently, Harris had a real and terrifying brush with death.

HARRIS: Woke up like I normally do, got out of bed.

GUPTA: But August 1st turned out to be anything but normal.

HARRIS: Had this incredible sudden pain in my stomach. It felt like a horse had kicked me. It literally knocked me to the floor.

GUPTA: Still, he thought it was possibly indigestion but then --

HARRIS: I sat there in the floor in the worst pain in my life. You would think somebody with a college degree would think, maybe you should get help? But no, I did the same exact thing I always do and the same thing I know a lot of guys do.

GUPTA: After an hour, Harris was found by his wife, Dawn, who immediately got him to the hospital.

HARRIS: If she hadn't come upstairs when she did, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you.

GUPTA: The diagnosis?

HARRIS: Necrotizing pancreatitis. My pancreas basically decided to start dying and taking my kidneys and lungs and other internal organs with it.

GUPTA: Necrotizing pancreatitis is severe inflammation of the pancreas the tissue dies and causes more infection. It can often be fatal.

HARRIS: I ended up dying twice that one week. Fortunately for me, I was unconscious. I had no idea what was going on.

GUPTA: In fact, Harris spent the first nine days unconscious on a ventilator.

HARRIS: Good to see you, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to have you back.

GUPTA: It took nearly six weeks, but Harris is on the mend, and he recently got back on the air. To this day, his doctors don't know exactly what triggered his illness, but Harris has this advice. HARRIS: Don't wait until you have as close a brush with leaving this earth as I did before you decide that you're worth going to see a doctor.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

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